A Dragon Revealed (8 page)

She smiled and felt a tear run down her cheek. “I think I know how my mother felt when she left, to love and not be on the receiving end of that love.”

“Michelle.” He said her name with a plea in his voice.

“I’m going to the bathroom, please be gone when I come out.”

She turned and went inside. Closing the lid of the toilet she sat and let the tears fall. She heard him get up from the bed and move toward the door, heard it open and close. He was gone and a sob caused her breath to hitch. She’d gone and fallen in love with the most stubborn dragon she’d ever met. One who found comfort in her body but couldn’t treasure her heart. Her mother had the option to run and she couldn’t, she didn’t want to, because there was too much at stake.

* * * *

Mursi landed on the beach at the house in the Florida Keys. With Hawke’s diligence with their finances and the riches of Paladin they had bought a small island. A palatial mansion sat in the center and gleamed white as the moon shined on its white-washed walls. The rain lessened to a slow drizzle and Mursi barely noticed it while he took the path from the beach to the house.
I’ve made a mess of it,
he thought miserably. He stepped inside, his wet feet covered in sand, and he left tracks across the Spanish tiles in the foyer. Bior stepped out from the family room wearing jeans and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves folded up to the elbow and arched an eyebrow in his direction.

“I didn’t expect you here tonight. While Michelle’s bed has to be small in that place she calls a house, I expected you to stay there tonight,” Bior said mildly.

“Maybe I didn’t see her,” Mursi snapped.

“Oh please,” Bior rolled his eyes. “I could smell your mating and her scent from the time you hit the beach in the rain.”

“I can’t with you right now, Bior,” Mursi said tiredly.

“Contrary to what you believe, Mursi, I am not your enemy and have always been on your side,” Bior said.

“Yes, that’s why you went after Michelle so vigorously,” Mursi pointed out.

Bior laughed. “If I had she’d be mine. No, I was gently nudging you in the direction you needed to be.”

“Your gentle nudge was akin to being gored by a bull,” Mursi pointed out. “In any case I’ve managed to muck it up nicely once again.”

“How about you go shower and find some clothes instead of standing there naked, sandy, and looking just… pitiful. I’ll find us a meal and commiserate with you,” Bior suggested.

“Yes, thank you, I’ll do that,” Mursi said.

“By the way, what did you say to cause her to kick you from her bed?” Bior called out as Mursi moved up the stairs.

“I told her I look forward to lying close with her because I ran hot and Larissa didn’t like to be so close in our bed at night,” he answered.

Bior laughed out loud. “Oh yes, royally fucked that up.”

Mursi sighed and said under his breath, “You’re telling me.”

He hoped to find some clarity under the hot spray of the shower and maybe a solution to the problem he had created. But at the end of it and as he dressed, he found no solution. Was he too stubborn or did he still crave his past life? That was an unequivocal no, because while he denied it, he began dreaming of Michelle, and his dragon clung to her and mentally voiced its contentment at the choice. There would always be a special place in his heart for Larissa. Their love had grown from childhood. But a new, poignant love grew for Michelle, it was undeniable and yet he still couldn’t say the words.
What the hell is the matter with
me?
he groused to himself. The delicious smell of something frying in the kitchen propelled him forward. For the first time in a long time he was hungry as a bear.

“I hope you made a lot. I’m starving,” Mursi said as he walked into the kitchen.

“You’ll eat what you get, just because you had a night in the arms of a woman doesn’t mean I’m now your cook,” Bior said.

“I’m not making that suggestion at all,” Mursi said. “My apologies if it came across that way.”

Bior looked at Mursi with his mouth agape. “I know, I was teasing. I’m not quite accustomed to your being nice again, I wonder if you’re going to go back into bastard mode at any second.”

“I’m done with that. I couldn’t stand myself, let alone the anger eating away at me.” Mursi stood and went around to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. It wouldn’t keep him awake because the dragon inside burned fuel quickly. “Trying to be angry all the time and not smiling is hard work.”

“It seems some ‘good lovin’ as Kalv would say has improved your demeanor,” Bior commented as he slid a plate in front of him.

Mursi looked at the breakfast foods and his mouth watered. A veggie omelet, sausage, bacon, and hash-browns. Bior played up on the fact that everyone knew his love of breakfast foods and meats, and Mursi was grateful. He felt more like his old self.

He took the first few bites of his food eagerly before speaking. “It’s Michelle, and I mean...” He took a moment to center his thoughts. “The kids in Paladin came running up to me a few days ago. I sat there for hours, playing with them, watching them chase each other in those games they played, and it’s like something lifted off me. I still hurt, but it’s not the same as when she first died.”

“It’s called healing,” Bior said. ‘We’ve all felt lost and your dragon has found the balm to soothe that missing place we all feel. Yours is Michelle and your whole heart knows your mind is still playing catch-up.”

Mursi pointed his fork at Bior. “That is a good way of putting it, thanks.”

“I’m a man of sage wisdom,” Bior pointed out.

“Uh-huh, let’s not go that far,” Mursi muttered.

There was the sound of the front door opening and then a loud slam. Mursi shared a wary look with Bior. They were the only dragons staying in the house and they weren’t expecting any guests. It certainly wasn’t the Shen. They didn’t walk through the front door, they were more inclined to break things to get in. They both moved through the kitchen to the foyer. Michelle stood there, dripping wet and looking none too happy.

“Where are you sleeping?” she asked Mursi.

“I hadn’t decided on a room yet,” Mursi said slowly. “You weren’t too pleased with me when I left, can I ask why you came?”

“Because apparently my dragon won’t rest unless she is resting beside her mate, she’s been growling at me and literally keening in my damn head.” She walked toward him and poked him hard in the chest. He winced as she punctuated each of her words with the painful action. “I followed some dumb invisible connection we have right to you. Don’t think I’m not still upset at you. I’m going upstairs and getting a hot shower and picking a room. You’ll be following me soon and we’re going to sleep together. Oh, bring me some of whatever you guys were eating, I’m starving. And some fruit.”

“Okay, I can do that.” Mursi nodded.

He felt like grinning like a fool but wisely curbed that action. Michelle didn’t look like she would take well to that reaction right now. His dragon was emitting low growls of delight that almost sounded like purring. He hadn’t felt this complete in a long time and it gave him a new sense of peace.

She flicked a look at Bior. “Hey.”

He inclined his head. “Hello Michelle.”

“Make sure he doesn’t forget the fruit,” she called as she walked away.

“It appears the problem has remedied itself,” Bior said as they walked back into the kitchen. “She is a bit demanding though, thank the gods she is not my mate.”

Mursi grinned and began to prepare a tray with Michelle’s food. “Yes, she’s mine.”

“Glad you’ve finally accepted that,” Bior said and placed a bowl of fruit close by for him to pick up. “Now go be with her and I shall see you both tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Bior, I mean that,” Mursi said humbly. He meant it and knew he had a lot of apologies to make for all the times he inflicted misery on the rest of his warrior brethren.

Bior clapped him on the shoulder. “This is the Mursi we all know and love. Goodnight.”

He finished the preparation of food for his mate and went upstairs. He found her in one of the massive bedrooms under the covers, naked and patiently waiting.

“Put the food down and come here,” she ordered gently.

Mursi put the tray on the table, went to her and joined her in bed. She pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him, sighing as she did. They needed no words to convey what they were feeling. His dragon was instantly at peace, so he knew hers was as well. They made love and it started slowly but built to a frenzy until he took her with savage delight and she accepted each hard thrust, begging for more. They climbed to the heights of passion, falling off the precipice into an orgasm together.

She shared her meal with him, feeding him bites of fruit or breakfast sausage while they lay in bed. With all aspects of their hunger sated, Mursi pulled her into his arms and she snuggled close. Unable to voice what he was feeling he laced his fingers with hers, hoping that would tell her exactly what was in his heart at that very moment. She squeezed his hand and murmured something he couldn’t understand, sleepily. He closed his eyes and was asleep almost instantly. There were no dreams, only darkness, but it was peaceful. It was as if his dragon knew who he held in his arms and was content. Both sides of his nature, the man and the beast, felt completion and he knew it was only Michelle that could bring him such satisfaction.

Michelle felt the grips of her heat more frequently over the next few days. She watched the calendar each day hoping it was the final one where she felt like she was immersed in lava and wanting to have sex like there was no tomorrow. The healer on Paladin said her heat could last three weeks to a month, especially a first cycle. She wanted it over because it was affecting everything. She patrolled with Mursi every night while Kiara rode on the back of Bior, much to her friend’s delight. But after every patrol or fight with any Shen they found scurrying through the night, she wanted to go home and take Mursi into her body and ride him to completion. He was more than willing but it felt like their new relationship was only based on sex. She knew what she felt but he still never said the words. They were mated, mind, body, and soul connected. If she wanted to find him all she had to do was close her eyes and follow the connection they shared back to him. But yet he never said he loved her.

The next concern was the silence from the Shen. She had her human team follow them to Florida, and now it was as if the Shen had gone underground and into hiding. They saw a few looking for food or new female prey but for the amount they estimated the numbers were off. Either they moved quickly without detection to a new location, or something was coming that they didn’t know about. The few they managed to capture and interrogate said nothing. Everything was so frustrating that Michelle wanted to scream.

“There’s nothing else we can do tonight,” Mursi said, tossing the body of the Shen he had just broken in half aside.

She’d actually felt a jolt of arousal when he did that, the bones snapping under his massive grasp and at that moment covered in Shen slime. Mursi was definitely hot…
Dear god let this end!
Michelle thought. She wanted to feel normal again, without wanting to drop her panties in the middle of a damn fight.

“You’re looking at me very oddly,” he murmured.

“It’s this damn cycle I’m on, when does it end!” Michelle threw her hands up in the air and gave him a helpless look. “We both stink to high heaven and are covered in Shen blood and all I’m thinking is how you took me from behind and how hard I came.”

“I’m up for doing that again and again.” His voice was a sexy rumble. “Thanks for reminding me, that’s number one on my list tonight.”

Her lips twitched in amusement. “You’re not helping the situation by being cute.”

Mursi stepped closer. “Honey, this cycle has to run its course and then you’ll go back to your old self, but I’m more than happy to take the journey with you into our forays of pleasure.”

“Is that all we are, forays into pleasure and bed buddies so our dragons are sated?” Michelle turned away, hoping to hold back tears. She’d hoped being mated would bring her more happiness instead of only sexual gratification.

“You know that’s not true,” he said, rubbing some dirt from her cheek. His hands were filthy so she knew he didn’t help. “You’re my mate and I am yours.”

“Yet you can’t say the words I love you,” she pointed out.

‘You haven’t said them either,” Mursi said.

“Because I don’t want to put you on the spot, because I don’t want to be stupidly in love with a man who can’t love me back,” Michelle retorted.

“I need time Michelle,” Mursi said. “We’re doing good just the way we are right now, can that not be enough?”

“That’s a complacent route and a line human men tell their women to keep them submissive,” Michelle said angrily.

“I don’t feel that way and you know it,” he answered.

“Do I Mursi, do I?” Michelle said. “Be careful. By the time you decide to love me it may be too late. My dragon may miss you but I’ll surely walk away.”

She turned her back on him and walked back to the SUV they took into the city to search for the Shen cell Mike and two of her people had found. She got in on the driver’s side and waited patiently for him to get in on the passenger side. She silently held out her hand for the keys and he dropped them into her palm. She drove away, and they were quiet the entire way back to the dragon house. She walked inside and heard Kiara and Bior in the kitchen and poked her head inside the door.

“Hey, we’re back,” she said.

Kiara looked up and smiled. “I’m making chili and yes, corn bread. How was the hunt?”

Michelle frowned. “Found that small cell Mike tracked, but again it’s too small for the number we saw moving when he came to Florida. Something is up.”

“I’ll leave word for Hawke and the others abut the developments, we’ll have reinforcements on standby if necessary,” Bior said. “Where is Mursi?”

“Out soaking his head for all I care,” Michelle snapped and then sighed. “I’m heading upstairs to shower and stuff. Thanks for the chili, Kiara, I’ll grab some later.”

She let the door close and heard Bior say, “Trouble in Paradise once more.” It wasn’t paradise if she was unhappy just as much as she was elated. It wasn’t paradise if she didn’t know where she stood. It wasn’t paradise if she couldn’t tell if he loved her or still mourned secretly for his lost wife. No, she was living in uncertainty and it was hell. Upstairs she went into the large shower stall and stripped off her dirty clothes. She began to wash the grime of their fight from her skin. There was no door to close in the large area built into sunken marble floors. It wasn’t necessary, it was built so water wouldn’t leak out and flood the entire bathroom. When he stepped in and took the soap from her and began to wash her back, she wasn’t surprised and didn’t fight him. God knew she was tired of fighting.

She leaned her forehead against his chest. “Why do you make it so hard?”

“I do not mean to,” Mursi said. “I’m not torn in my feelings for you, they are there. My… my fear is loss. To love again and lose would surely break this dragon soul of mine.”

She looked up at him. “But you’re making us both suffer because you’re scared, and I need your love like it’s my next breath. Mursi, whatever is to happen will happen regardless of if you share your love with me or not. All you can do is know our destiny is tied into being together and our children to generations beyond.”

He gave a humorless laugh. “The gods are fickle, what may be a plan today may be changed at their whim.”

Michelle cupped his cheek. “Then you believe in me, and I swear to you that I’ll always watch my back and I will fight like a demon possessed to always come home to you.”

Mursi bent and kissed her hard, she could tell he poured all his emotion into that kiss and she accepted it gladly. When he lifted his head they were both breathing hard and the intensity of his need and love was in his green eyes. She looked past the arousal they both shared for each other and she saw love.

They washed each other quickly, igniting the fire of passion in each other as they did. By the time they stumbled out of the bathroom entwined in each other’s arms, they fell into the bed still wet from the shower but not caring as they were consumed by the urge to copulate. She was so wet she could feel it on her thighs and when he sucked her pert nipple into his mouth she felt it in her core and released a gush of sexual juice in response.

Michelle kissed him wantonly and felt a surge of feminine power as he groaned low. He wrapped his arms around her and took the kiss even deeper. He sensually used his tongue and traced her lips before he slipped it into her mouth to taste her. A man, human or not, should not taste so good she could get drunk off kisses. She loved how he sipped and teased her mouth before deepening the kiss, making her want more. Michelle rubbed herself intimately against him and wished he would slip his rock-hard cock inside her until she begged him to stop. She’d never felt emotions as deep or want a man so desperately. Did mating feel like this for the rest of her life, or tone down to a pleasurable hum?

His hands roamed over her body and he lifted and spread her legs. She whimpered and his fingers deftly found her core. Mursi caressed her pussy, knowing exactly how to touch her and make her wet, making her writhe beneath him. His hands were gone too soon but he had more ways to please her. He buried his face in the luscious full globes of her breasts and filled his hands with the soft mounds. He rolled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and it sent shivers of pleasure through her

“I love how you make me feel,” Michelle admitted on a gasp.

They were half on and half off the bed, and when she tried to scramble back to gain more room Mursi was right there with her. She was sitting in the middle of the mattress and he was on his knees between her legs. He sank his hands in her hair and lifted her head to his kiss. It was only an instant before he worked his way down to her exposed breasts. Taking her nipple into his mouth, Mursi sucked and played with smooth globe before moving to the other to give it the same feverish attention. She tried to touch him in return but Mursi would have none of it. He was ravenous in intent to arouse and make her body his.

“I will try to show you more of my affection,” Mursi promised. “I will show you how much you are cherished, how my life is a gray and empty place without you. My Dragoness, you are my mate and I’m honored you have accepted me. More than you will ever know.”

He took her lips again in a hot, hard kiss, melting Michelle’s body while her heart soared. More emotions were poured into those words than just “I love you.” She treasured them and locked away the perfect moment deep in her mind. But soon even that was lost in the sexual haze they were creating. Her body reacted to him by the puddle of wetness that pooled between her thighs. She grasped his cock and stroked the rock hard member until his hips caught the rhythm and she could feel him pushing himself between her fingers. His groan of pleasure told her how much he approved of what she was doing.

While she pleased him with her hand, he feasted on her lips swollen from his kisses. Michelle took the lead from and caressed his muscled chest. She scrambled to her knees so that they were chest-to-chest and her nipples tingled as she moved against his smooth skin. She gasped against his mouth as pleasure flowed through her and moved quickly like a sleek cat, pushing him back so she could take control of the lust-filled scenario playing out. Michelle kissed and licked her way down his body until she reached the tip of his hard cock. Mursi’s head fell back against the large pillows on the bed and his body was tense as she stroked his cock.

“I’m going to taste you like you taste me,” Michelle said, not asking for permission. “I’m going to take you deep in my mouth and love you with my tongue until you come.”

“Do it, take what you want.” Mursi’s voice was harsh with need.

This time it was Michelle on her knees between his legs. She licked the tip slowly and licked the tip of his rigid length and purred the taste of his pre-come. A tortured moan came from Mursi and he fisted his hands in her hair. She licked and kissed her way down and then back up his manhood, and scraped his heavy sacks with her teeth. She took his hard cock in her mouth and slid her soft lips down and up again with a gentle sucking motion.

“By the gods, your mouth is amazing.” His words ended on a need-filled moan.

Michelle took her time pleasing him, exploring his body and tasting his manly flavor. He’d done it so many times to her and it excited her to bring him release with her mouth. She increased the suction of her lips and used her hand as well to work the shaft of his long, thick member. His hips followed her rhythm and she felt his length thicken and throb as his body prepared to give up its bounty. The first salty taste made her moan, his guttural cry was long and low as he fucked her mouth. She accepted every drop of his essence and licked her lips with the satisfaction of a cat that had a bowl of cream.

“I want to be inside you,” Mursi muttered.

“Don’t you need time to recuperate?” Michelle asked.

He cupped her grasp around his still rock-hard cock. “I think I can still satisfy my dragoness with this.”

“Oh yes,” Michelle purred.

The craving of having him buried in the warm confines of her pussy made her stomach clench in anticipation. His heated gaze followed the curve of her body as if he was deciding what he wanted to touch first. To tease him, Michelle ran her fingers over the sensitive skin of her thick, velvet pussy lips. Mursi pulled her to him roughly and she cried out when he slipped his fingers inside her. He brought her to the peak of frenzy and she fell into the swirling ecstasy in a short matter of time. Before she could catch her breath his cock was inside her, and their intense cries of pleasure filled the air.

“You’re made perfectly for me, I could be burned alive in your heat and not care,” Mursi said harshly.

He pumped himself inside her forcefully. “Look at me as I take you.”

She met his green gaze and barely had any control over the thread of sanity as the throes of passion and their intimate dance began. His back was against the headboard and she straddled his lap. Michelle began to move slowly and matched his movements until his eyes darkened to a deep green in pleasure. His fingers tightened on her hips and dug into the soft flesh. She pulled his head to her breasts and he sucked her nipple deep into his mouth as the pace of their love making increased.

“Oh god, more.”

Her head fell back in pleasure as she moaned the words and both sensations assaulted her senses at once. Her hips bucked against him and Michelle took hold of the headboard and used it to help ride him hard. The bed shook from the intensity of their passion.

“I want more, please yes!” Michelle cried out.

“Take it all my love, take all you need,” he said between gritted teeth.

He grabbed her hips, pulling her against him hard, and Michelle cried out in pleasure. She heard the wood begin to splinter beneath her hands and then once more as his back hit against the frame, hard.

She felt her body tighten and clench like a vise around his throbbing cock. “Oh yes, Mursi, I’m going to come, please now, now!”

“Ah yes,” Mursi wrapped his arms around her body and flipped her backward. She was now beneath him as he pumped into her mercilessly.